Rescue operations by Army personnel and local civic agencies, using earth-moving machinery, continued without a pause for the second night on Sunday after the building collapsed on the afternoon of January 4.

A senior fire and emergency services officer at the site said that one body was recovered late on Sunday night and another at midnight, taking the toll to 17.

Sixteen people have been admitted to state-run Hospicio Hospital in Margao and Goa Medical College and Hospital near here.

Rescuers said 15 more people are still trapped in the debris.

The five-storey building was coming up in Chawdi area of Canacona town, 70 km from here.

Police have already registered a case against the builder Vishwas Desai and contractor Jaideep Saigal. Both are untraceable, police said.

Rescue operation has been made difficult by the location of the building which stood on a narrow lane, one km off the national highway linking Goa to Karnataka.